My thoughts on the Phillies season.

Cole Hamels allow one to slip out of his control as the Phils lose to their old rival the Giants, 7-3.

Cole Hamels lost control of the ballgame as he gave up six runs in two innings after having had the Giants under control for two plus innings, as the Phils lose to the Giants, 7-3. The Phils have lost their first series since being swept by the Braves in early July. Their lead is now down to five games in the NL East as the Marlins have won their game.

The Giants took the lead in the second as, with a man on base, and with nobody out, Aaron Rowand hits an RBI triple, knocking in Ryan Garko, who had earlier singled, giving the Giants a 1-0 lead. The Phils would tie it up at one-all in the fourth as Jimmy Rollins hits a lead-off home run, his eleventh home run of the season. Four batters later, with a runner on base, and two men out, Jayson Werth hits an infield single on a ground ball to Giants’ second baseman Freddy Sanchez, who made a bad throw to first base for an error, allowing Chase Utley, who had earlier singled, and then stole second to score, giving the Phils a 2-1 lead, while Werth moved up to second on the throw. The Phils made it 3-1 in the fifth as, with a runner on base, Carlos Ruiz hits an RBI single, knocking in Eric Bruntlett, who had earlier doubled. The Giants then came back to tie it up at three-all in their half of the fifth as, with two men on, and two men out, Sanchez hits a two-run double, scoring Giants’ starter Barry Zito, who had earlier singled and had gone to third on Eugenio Velez’s blooped single, and Velez, who had earlier singled. The next batter, Pablo Sandoval, then hit a grounder to first that was scooped up by Ryan Howard that could’ve been an easy out, as Phils’ starter Cole Hamels had beaten Sandoval to the bag, if Howard had given Hamels a low toss. Sadly, Howard made a high toss that went passed Hamels, and allowed Sanchez to score, giving the Giants a 4-3 lead, while Sandoval, who is credited with an infield single, would move on to second on the throwing error. The Giants would then break it open in the sixth as, with runners on second and third and nobody out, Randy Winn hits an RBI single, scoring Rowand, who had earlier singled, and had gone to third on Edgar Renteria’s double, making it a 5-3 Giants’ lead, while sending Renteria on to third. Three batters later, after Winn steals second base, Eli Whiteside is intentionally walked to load the bases, Hamels is replaced on the mound by Chan Ho Park, and pinch hitter Bengie Molina flies out to left for the inning’s first out, Velez makes it a 7-3 Giants’ lead wtih a two-run single, knocking in both Renteria and Winn, while sending Whiteside to third base. That would end up being the final score as the Phils would be unable to recover, going down 1-2-3 in the ninth.

Cole Hamels took the lost, as he pitched five innings plus four batters, giving up six runs, five of which were earned, on ten hits and two walks, while he struck out only two. His record is now 7-6 with a 4.68 ERA. Chan Ho Park pitched an inning, giving up a hit. Ryan Madson and Scott Eyre together pitched two scoreless innings, giving up only a hit (Eyre) and a walk (Madson). Barry Zito got the win, as he pitched six innings, giving up three runs, only two of which were earned, on six hits, while he struck out five. His record is now 7-10 with an ERA of 4.47. Sergio Romo, Brandon Medders, Jeremy Affeldt, who recorded his twenty-third hold and Bob Howry, recorded three scoreless innings, giving up just three hits (Romo (1), Medders (2)), while striking out a batter (Affeldt).

The Phils had nine hits in the game, with Jimmy Rollins and Ben Francisco leading the team with two hits each, with one of Rollins’ two hits being a solo home run. Chase Utley, Jayson Werth, Pedro Feliz, Eric Bruntlett and Carlos Ruiz had the Phils’ other five hits, with Ruiz knocking in the only other Phils run. The Phils hit themselves out of big innings during the entire road trip, mainly by either striking out or hitting the pitcher’s pitch. Hopefully they can correct that during the home stand, which will start tomorrow night against the Rockies, as they have the day off today.

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